Numbers going down

Weighed myself this morning and saw the magical number of 196lbs!!

Where has this magic come from I asked? Then my body groaned, it's from the bloody street dance class you did, followed by the couch to 5k week 6 day 2 run. Oh yes, that'll be it, I thought, as I slowly dragged myself out of the house.

Zero pains = Zero gains.

Calories still count at the weekends

They still count at a barbecue with friends and beers.
They still count at a boy's house with pizza and wine.
They still count when you eat Ben and Jerry's as you pity yourself with your horrible cold.
And that is why I am a fail, weekends. And my weight today? 201.2.

Broke 200

Yesterday and today the scale did speak to this goat, and it did say 199.2lbs!
Hello one-derland!
Considering weekly weigh-ins from now on, we'll see.

Suspicious scales

After a frankly appalling week (almost zero exercise + rubbish eating) I was rather surprised this morning to see 205 on the scale.

I'm sure this has a lot more to with dehydration following my leaving drinks last night than anything else.

Anyway next week is a new week (and a new job)! I'll report back on couch to 5k week 4 tomorrow.

Couch to 5k, week 3, run 2

Weighed in today at 207.6, a 0.8 lb gain which I possibly deserved for gloating about skinny jeans yesterday. I REGRET NOTHING! :P Can't lie, I'm quite tempted to keep the label with "super skinny jeans" on, haha.

So to make up for a couple of lazy days I ran to the swimming pool this evening. I was considering running back but wet hair plus coldness put me off. Although I did manage to get the clothing/warmth levels right on the way there which I never do - not freezing to detah or overheating was an added bonus for the night!


Also the guy on reception at the pool complimented my running gloves. I say complimented, he was possible being slightly sarcastic as they look like this....

Ain't nothing wrong about furry, fluorescent-yellow, children's gloves from the pound shop!

Ok, so some snazzy running gloves and matching hat are definitely on my Christmas list! I'm also thinking about getting a foam roller for my IT band issues, maybe not for Christmas (bit of a random/boring Christmas pressie really). Just watching foam roller videos makes my legs feel better!

Any length you can swim, I can swim faster

The good:

Well hello number 6, haven't seen you in a while!

Whole Foods Market - my pay day treat - it's like the Narnia of supermarkets.

The bad:

Dried figs you are so delicious but why must you have so many calories? You make me sad :(

The ugly:

A goat in a swimming costume!

Haha, but at least I went for a swim, and it does seemed to have eased my knee a bit. Also there was no sign of this 'SwimFit' business I expected, I thought there would be an instructor or something? Anyhoo I just got on and did 36 lengths - that's 1188 metres in "one of the largest pools in London" FYI.

Tomorrow - a dreaded morning run (as I'm going out after work). Will I make it? Will I die trying? Will the world end if I get out of bed earlier than 7? Who knows....

Post-thanksgiving trot

Good to my word I've been out for a run tonight. Couch to 5k week 3 continues (two weeks down the line!) Really good run, and this will be the week I finish week 3!

I weighed in today at 208.4lbs, so if I want to reach my Christmas goal I'm aiming for about 2lbs a week until then.

So this week's exercise plan is:

• Monday - Couch to 5k , week 3.
• Tuesday - swimming, I'll be trying out the new "swimfit" plan I happened upon today.
• Wednesday - Couch to 5k, week 3.
• Thursday - swimming, I'll see how this swimfit malarkey goes and then do lengths if it's not great.
• Friday - Couch to 5k, week 3.
• Saturday - Pilates (hopefully I can book in to the class at the local leisure centre).
• Sunday - Swim and/or bike ride.

My current thin-spiration is Bendoeslife with his "A weigh a day". I'm toying with the idea of doing a four week count down to Christmas.....we'll see.

Christmas goals

Let's talk goals for Christmas (to avoid the fact I didn't go for a run today, ssshhhh)

Christmas is quite a good motivator for me as I usually spend it with my healthy farming relatives who are all obviously fit and slim thanks to their physical jobs but also because a number of them are neurotic about their weights.

Either way, I've always felt a certain disappointment or just "unimpressedness" from this side of the family about my weight. But this also means that when they comment positively on my weight loss they really mean it - these are people that don't hand out compliments freely!

So today I've decided to set myself a two tier goal:
Main goal  - by Christmas I will be in the 100s.
Bonus prize - by Christmas have lost 10lbs from today (this would make me 197.8lbs as of today).

So thems the goals. I know it's not a massive challenge but it does really feel like that to me. Especially as I worked out today I've only lost a stone (14lbs) in the passed year so I kind of feel like if I can push it to lose that much by Christmas I'll really have got the ball rolling for a great new year.

Anyhow, tomorrow there will be a running update, promise!

This is a running blog about running

A post about running (finally)!!

So today I went for a run, it wasn't the world's greatest run but it wasn't the worst either. I've gone back to Week 3 of Couch to 5k because of knee worries (and laziness, let's be honest), but it felt gooooooooooooood. And I did a major streching session beforehand which, I can't lie, was almost orgasmically good.

Trust me, stretching is extra good when there's a whole 6 foot of you to stretch. My back clicks a lot (lack of core/back strength maybe?) and so always feels incredible to stretch, but glute stretches are a close second (possibly because I sit on my bum too much). Touching my toes also makes me feel superior as I have two friends (much fitter than me) who can't touch theirs - small victories ;)

So as I was running I realised I have no light/reflective running clothes, dangerous now that it's winter, so maybe some sexy new running clothes can be purchased with the pay rise from my NEW JOB! :D

Yep, this time next month I will be starting in a wonderfully science-geeky job at a breast cancer charity (hence the pink writing yesterday). As well as being the exact role I want to be doing right now it's also quite a big pay rise so I'm thinking of a few treats I can buy myself (although mostly I'm thinking "woo I can pay off my student overdraft!"). Running-wise I think I might get 1 x running tights, 1 x bright/reflective long sleeve top, and new trainers! My old asics are feeling a bit less comfy after four 10ks and all the training between so I'm looking forward to having a proper gait analysis at a running shop (I bought the last pair off ebay coz I'm a massive cheapskate).

In other news my weight today was 209 lbs so I only put on 1 pound on holiday! Good news all round!

So what part of you do you like to stretch most? ;) ;) (ok innuendo yes, but serious question)

Oh and any suggestions for running clothes and shoes are more than welcome :)

Maintaining on holiday

208
That's the number to beat, or equal. So I'm going to an all inclusive hotel for a week and aiming not to gain weight. Wish me luck!

Science, partying and birds

Oh look at me, managing to post more than once a week, or not, whoops!

So lets get down to business goat lovers, my weight this morning was....
209.8 lbs

Little bit over a pound lost in a week, I'll take that.

Here's a whirlwind trip of how I managed that this week:
London Science Festival - aka too busy geeking to get busy eating.

Running - couch to 5k week numero 4 continues.

Walking up hills - and walking extra fast to prove how much fitter you are than your parents. If you ever want to go for a walk just a short train/car ride out of London I recommend The Chiltern Hills, they are one of my favourite places in the world.

Eating well - apart from partying and being ridiculously hungover so not eating at the weekend I actually burnt more calories than I ate every single day this week, even the days I didn't exercise, good times!

PARTAY - or rather get so drunk you are unable to eat much the next 2 days (a sensible weight loss strategy? No. A fun strategy? Very much so). But yes, I do not condone this lifestyle - alcohol has calories too, sadly.

Also when I was in the Chilterns on Sunday I saw five Red Kites up close, they are absolutely stunning birds that were successfully reintroduced to the Chilterns in the 1990s...

Image from ahisgett on Flickr

This week I have equal amounts of science geekery with less partying planned, so hopefully more running. Next week I will also be in beautiful surroundings in Egypt.

So where's your favourite natural beauty spot? Do you exercise there and, more importantly, does it have majestic birds of prey to gawp at?

Goat goals

I've toyed a bit with putting my actual weight on this blog as I know, eventually, someone I know in "real life" is going to see it and I don't know how comfortable I am with that.

However...

as this blog is mainly in existence to keep me on the straight and narrow (quite literally) full disclosure seems more in the spirit of things.

ALSO, for the glorious minority of us, I want to provide a realistic picture of how much tall girls (we're talking 5'10" plus) weigh. I've always felt there's a huge lack of information on what weight, clothes size or even shoe size is "normal" and/or healthy for girls of my height (6 foot) and have personally felt like society assumes that anyone of a certain height must be athlete or model size! So I'll try to share some thoughts on being tall-but-not-skinny where I can.

Right! The first weigh in, here we go:
Start weight - 211.2 pounds
Goal weight - 168 pounds (that's 12 stone for UK peeps who don't watch as much Biggest Loser USA as me!)

I also like to keep track of my BMI (using the calculator on calorie count) and this is currently 28.6 (24.9 is healthy).

So after that shock revelation I have some questions for you goat fans:

Are there any other tall girls out there who feel the same way about weight goals? Or perhaps you're of an average height, or even shorter than average (big up to the extremes!) and have similar feelings about portrayals of weight at your height? Let me know!